Positive emotion up-regulation is resistant to working memory load: An electrocortical investigation of reappraisal and savoring
- PMID: 37424455
- PMCID: PMC10776823
- DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14385
Positive emotion up-regulation is resistant to working memory load: An electrocortical investigation of reappraisal and savoring
Abstract
Studies of emotion regulation to-date have mostly focused on negative emotion down-regulation, leaving positive emotion up-regulation poorly understood, particularly regarding factors that may modulate its success. While reappraisal and savoring have been shown to be effective at increasing electrocortical and subjective response to pictures in controlled laboratory settings, it remains unclear whether individuals can effectively enact these techniques to willfully increase positive emotions in everyday life when faced with other concurrent distractions/demands. Here, we used the late positive potential (LPP), an electrocortical measure that is larger for emotional compared to neutral stimuli, to assess the effect of working memory (WM) load on individuals' ability to reappraise or savor positive pictures. Seventy-six participants were randomly assigned to use either reappraisal or savoring to up-regulate positive emotion to pictures. Following training, participants engaged in a positive emotion up-regulation task interspersed with high and low WM load trials, while EEG was recorded. Frequentist and Bayesian statistics showed that although high WM load seemed to consume resources and reduced picture processing overall, it did not interfere with the enhancement of the LPP via positive emotion up-regulation. Nonetheless, WM performance (especially on high-load trials) was worse when participants were engaged in positive emotion up-regulation. Therefore, while both techniques appear to be effective under concurrent WM load, positive emotion up-regulation may interfere with other ongoing tasks.
Keywords: cognitive load; distraction; emotion regulation; event-related potential (ERP); late positive potential (LPP); pictures.
© 2023 The Authors. Psychophysiology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Psychophysiological Research.
Conflict of interest statement
Competing Interests
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Similar articles
-
High working memory load impairs the effect of cognitive reappraisal on emotional response: Evidence from an event-related potential study.Neurosci Lett. 2017 Feb 3;639:126-131. doi: 10.1016/j.neulet.2016.12.069. Epub 2016 Dec 30. Neurosci Lett. 2017. PMID: 28041962
-
Working memory load reduces the electrocortical processing of positive pictures.Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2021 Apr;21(2):347-354. doi: 10.3758/s13415-021-00875-z. Epub 2021 Mar 10. Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci. 2021. PMID: 33751481 Free PMC article.
-
High working memory load impairs reappraisal but facilitates distraction - An event-related potential investigation.Biol Psychol. 2022 May;171:108327. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2022.108327. Epub 2022 Apr 9. Biol Psychol. 2022. PMID: 35405285
-
Event-related potential studies of emotion regulation: A review of recent progress and future directions.Int J Psychophysiol. 2022 Jun;176:73-88. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2022.03.008. Epub 2022 Mar 25. Int J Psychophysiol. 2022. PMID: 35346736 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Event-related potentials, emotion, and emotion regulation: an integrative review.Dev Neuropsychol. 2010;35(2):129-55. doi: 10.1080/87565640903526504. Dev Neuropsychol. 2010. PMID: 20390599 Review.
References
Publication types
MeSH terms
Grants and funding
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources